


pick and choose

by OverMyFreckledBody



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Alpha Laura Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Good Friend Stiles Stilinski, Implied Relationships, Non-Werewolf Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Pack Dynamics, Wolf Instincts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-18 01:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16107548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverMyFreckledBody/pseuds/OverMyFreckledBody
Summary: Part of being an Alpha is apparently weeding out the kids that should or shouldn’t be bitten.Which of course means that Laura is going to hand off that job to Derek.





	pick and choose

**Author's Note:**

> technically, I wrote this as a part of the same universe as [my laura hale appreciation week day 1 fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16078334)
> 
> BUT if you don't wanna read that, just know that laura never is tired of meddling teenage boys

                Laura swears that all it took was her backflipping off a roof _once_ and this kid gets it in his head that she’s _gotta_ bite him.

 

                Stupid teenagers.

 

                She can hear him talking about it to the smarter, impulsive one – Deputy, er, the Sheriff’s son – and really, she’s told them about the advanced hearing. She knows it isn’t fair, because how could they know how well her senses were, but she kind of wants to fault him for talking about it _right in front of her_.

 

                She cuts a look with Derek and even through his sunglasses, she just _knows_ that he’s rolling his eyes too. Well, that settles that. If she doesn’t want to do it, and her number one beta (number _only_ , as he would say) doesn’t want her to do it, she’s not going to. God knows that the wolf doesn’t mix well with hormones. At least she has more of a reason to turn him down other _I’d rather not_.

 

                With that thought in mind, she pops open the door and steps out, leaning against the side of it. Derek does the same, and she almost wants to laugh at the picture they make. The last two remaining Hales, chilling in a school parking lot with leather jackets, flashy shades, and an even flashier car. She can’t say it wouldn’t be living up to the memory of the Hale name, however. Mom did always say it was in their blood to be dramatic, after all. Nobody who met Peter would ever doubt that.

 

                Thankfully, Scott and Stiles make their way up to the Camaro before Derek has a chance to do anything more than sniff at her change in scent. Stiles slaps his hand onto Scott’s shoulder and nods, a jerky bobbing motion with his head that Derek watches intently, and steps back to give Scott the focus. Damn, he hasn’t even opened his mouth and Laura is already tired of what he’s about to say.

 

                “Hey Scott,” Laura starts instead, hoping that if she can just outtalk them she won’t have to deal with his request. She nods at the boy behind Scott, “Stiles,” who, with a genuine smile on his face, waves at her, and his gaze flicks to Derek for a second before returning back to her. She feels her lips twitch up. How cute. “How was school today?”

 

                Scott makes a face, like he is really bothered by the fact that she was attempting pleasantries with him instead of getting straight to business, and that’s another sign that she shouldn’t give in. Impatience – and what’s more, in the face of the Alpha who’s pack he was attempting to join. He sure wouldn’t be her first pick for a diplomat. To be fair, neither would Derek, but even he can hide his displeasure. He just chooses not to most of the time, the little shit.

 

                She glances over at him, wanting to see if he caught onto what she did, and that glance shifts into her actually turning to look at him. Because, instead of listening to the conversation, he’s focused in on a girl across the parking lot, standing by her lonesome on the bus loop’s sidewalk.

 

                “Derek?”

 

                He snaps out of it and turns his head to Laura and very slightly, tilts his head back to expose his neck in a silent apology. She wasn’t even bothered, not in the least, but that appeals to her; her wolf rumbles in her chest, just beneath her heart, curling and uncurling its paws in pleasure. It always responds so well to even the smallest of Derek’s acts of submission. It has since… since she inherited the Alpha spark.

 

                “That girl over there.” He jerks his head to the girl he was looking at, and the four of them look over at her, watching as she tucks a thick strand of frizzy hair behind her ear. Stiles is the first to turn back around to facing the ‘wolves again and his gaze snaps straight to Derek as his eyebrows furrow. Laura makes a mental note to ask what the hell went on between them when she stepped out to _take care of business_.

 

                He looks at her brother like he’s a puzzle he wants to run his fingertips all over. Laura isn’t the one that’s confusing to him, or intriguing – it’s _Derek_.

 

                Derek carries on, turning back to her as well, but his words are stilted, halting, “She smells like…”

 

                The wind picks up and Laura finds the answer to that for herself. _Medicine. Blood. Pain. Self-loathing. Anger._

 

                _Like us_ , she wants to say. Instead, “ _Desperation_.”

 

                Derek nods, and his lips downturn just the smallest bit, but enough for her to notice. He was likely thinking the same thing. She lifts a hand up to cup and press into the back of his neck, to which he sinks into, pushing back against it. Against her will, she lets out a short reverberating sound of her soothed pleasure, but she cuts it off quick and attempts to cover it up by using her other hand to take off her sunglasses and tuck them into the front of her shirt.

 

                “I’ll talk to you boys later,” she says without even looking at either of them, eyes trained back on the girl, who has no idea. She squeezes Derek’s neck once and lets go, before saying to him, “Tell them about the plan for the Argents.” And by that, she means the brief overview of it, nothing specific. These two are teenage boys who screw around in the woods, after all. They don’t need the details.

 

                Stepping around the three of them, she notices something she didn’t seem to see before with this girl. There’s something about her, something that almost shimmers in the air, that makes her hope her eyes aren’t flashing. She glows in the sunlight, without it having anything to do with her reflective, golden hair. She has the distinct look of what a tingling feeling would _look_ like, something Laura usually only sees on her family, after the light of a full moon spills on them.

 

                Now that Derek’s pointed her out, she looks like she could be _Pack_.

**Author's Note:**

> writing alpha instincts is fun af  
> (and also, i love erica)


End file.
